Characters / WWE NXT

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Lists the various WWE wrestlers who are currently part of the WWE NXT Developmental System. Please limit associated tropes to that wrestler's time in WWE.

When a wrestler gets either released or called up to the main roster (Raw, Smackdown, etc.), remove them from here. If the latter, also add them to the respective character pages: New Era (for male singles wrestlers), Divas, or Tag Teams. When they get an independent page, remove the tropes and put a link in to their page.

For the wrestlers of the UK brand, go here.

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Television roster

Contains Superstars who have made their debut and currently appear regularly and primarily on NXT's weekly show.

Singles Wrestlers

A-Kid/Axiom

A-Kid/Axiom (Carlos Ruiz)

• Arch-Enemy: SCRYPTS is headed to become one for him.
• Masked Luchador: He appears like a luchador, except that he's from Spain, not Latin America.
• Superhero: His gimmick as Axiom is a wrestling version, complete with a secret identity of a comic book geek.

Javier Bernal

Javier Bernal (Randall Beidelschies)

• But Not Too Foreign: He's of Colombian descent.
• Red Baron: "Big Body".
• Shout-Out: One of his ring gears serve as an indirect homage to ROH mainstay Matt Taven.

Boa

Boa (Yanbo Wang)

• Training from Hell: Along with Xia Li, underwent several weeks of this in some secret underground lair before returning in 2021.
• The Unfought: Obviously has gone through training in real life and in storyline, but doesn't typically get involved physically. After Tian Sha split up, Boa became a much more active competitor.
• Whole Costume Reference: His dark suit/black sunglasses combo brings to mind Neo in The Matrix.

Josh Briggs

Josh Briggs (Joshua Bruns)

• Last of His Kind: Was the final champion for EVOLVE before WWE purchased the promotion.

Dante Chen

Dante Chen (Sean Tan)

• Jobber: His role in NXT has been as a jobber since his introduction.
• Ur-Example: The first wrestler from Singapore under a WWE contract.

Baron Corbin

Baron Corbin (Thomas Pestock)

Dijak

Dominik Dijakovic/T-Bar/Dijak (Christopher Dijak)

• Alliterative Name: Dominik Dijakovic.
• Bald of Evil: He shaved his head when he joined Retribution.
• Beard of Evil: Went clean-shaven or with Perma-Stubble as a face on NXT; upon his return as a heel, he has noticeably grown in a full, dark beard.
• The Big Guy: As a Face.
• The Brute: As a Heel.
• Character Catchphrase: "Feast your eyes!"
• Cool Mask: As T-Bar, as part of former stable, Retribution.
• The Dragon: to Mustafa Ali.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: During his entrance at NXT Battleground before his Last Man Standing match with Ilja Dragunov, he tells his wife and daughter, who are in the crowds, to leave as he doesn't want them to witness the brutality. Chances are he had the clash between The Rock and Mick Foley at the 1999 Royal Rumble on his brain at that point in time.
• Finishing Move: "Feast Your Eyes", an Argentine rack transitioned into a knee lift to the forehead. Basically, it's what you would get if you combined the Burning Hammer, Attitude Adjustment, and Go To Sleep in one nifty package.
• The Giant: 6'7', 270 lbs., guaranteed to wreck your day.
• Last-Name Basis: Considering that during his run in the independents he was known as Donovan Dijak, after his repackage and return to NXT, he is known simply as Dijak. It had originally been part of his 'Dominik Dijakovic' gimmick.
• Lightning Bruiser: Is way more agile than should be expected or, indeed, allowed for a man his size. Can perform backflips off the middle turnbuckle and springboard suicide planchas off the top rope. Again - he's 6'7", 270. His rules are not your rules.
• Malevolent Masked Men: As T-Bar.
• The Rival: Keith Lee, another large man with physics-defying agility.
• Sadist: As Dijak, he gets unnerving enjoyment out of causing others pain.
• Sudden Sequel Heel Syndrome: He's a face in NXT, but debuts as a heel on the main roster in RAW as a member of Retribution and changes his ring name to T-Bar. Even on NXT itself, after the aforementioned repackaging makes Dominik Dijakovic miss the entire year-long "NXT 2.0" era, he returns to the "white and gold" NXT as the heel Dijak.
• Worthy Opponent: The series between him and Keith Lee, with both men beating seven shades of hell out of each other, fostered a mutual respect between them.

Tye Dillinger/Shawn Spears

Tye Dillinger/Shawn Spears (Ronnie Arneill)

• Arch-Enemy: Bobby Roode. He gave Roode a chance only to have the man betray him (by leaving him during a tag match to get the tar kicked out of him by SAnitY).
  • After debuting on the main roster, he seems to have made one in Baron Corbin.
• Arc Number: ...C'mon. Guess.
  • Taken up to 10: It was his entry number in the Royal Rumble
• Catchphrase: "TEN!!"
• Chairman of the Brawl: In his newest gimmick as Shawn Spears, he's often seen with a folding chair.
• Didn't Think This Through: So, to take part in the tag team classic honoring the memory of the late Dusty Rhodes, you accept the offer to team with the arrogant money-centric ex-protégé of Ric Flair who you know has a history of turning against people? Bad move, Tye.
• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: After his loss to Bobby Roode at Takeover: Toronto, Dillinger begins to doubt his place in NXT and decides to test himself by challenging Samoa Joe to a match by slapping him in the face backstage. While he loses, Dillinger puts up one hell of a fight.
• Early-Bird Cameo: He was previously known as Stan, the guy who was superkicked by Shawn Michaels a few weeks before Cyber Sunday 2006 on Raw. He also had a short run on ECW as jobber Gavin Spears.
• Enemy Mine: Although he does not like or trust Bobby Roode, Dillinger agrees to team up with him for the second Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic in order to have a chance to win and honor his late mentor. Dillinger was right not to trust Roode. It didn't end well.
• Finishing Move: A Fireman's carry neckbreaker he calls the Tye Breaker. As Shawn Spears, he uses a running Death Valley driver called "C4".
• Level Grinding: He had three separate stints with developmental and was in four separate incarnations of it as well (OVW, FCW, NXT Black and Gold and NXT White and Gold). All in total, it took almost a decade from his initial signing to debut on the main roster, but he did it - and not only showed up, but had screentime in a U.S. Title angle with AJ Styles and Baron Corbin, two of the bigger names on the Smackdown ledger.
• Red Baron: "The Perfect 10"
• Small Name, Big Ego: According to his WWE.com bio, Dillinger claims that if you wanted to be considered the best, you have to defeat him…which if one remembers his win/loss ratio in the past, and even currently against NXT's higher tier guys, is not a very difficult thing to do. The irony is, this actually makes his claim true in a more mocking fashion—if you can't beat him, you certainly don't have any grounds calling yourself the best.
• Took a Level in Badass: After being re-packaged with the "Perfect 10" gimmick. Still got more room to go, though.
• Wild Card: He initially worked as either face or heel as an episode's particular card demanded before solidifying himself as a face.

Ilja Dragunov

Ilja Dragunov (Ilya Rukober)

• Berserk Button: Insulting or threatening his family. Baron Corbin had been pressing it for quite a while before facing Dragunov at NXT Deadline 2023 and suffering a brutal beatdown.
• Character Catchphrase: "Unbesiegbar." German for "Unconquerable" or, more figuratively, "Invincible".
• Combat Sadomasochist: Dragunov, for a guy who doesn't look that physically dominant, is one of the most terrifying opponents in the promotion, for the simple reason that he will take your best shot and then ask for more before giving it back double. When he states outright that pain makes him feel alive, it is the farthest thing from an empty boast.
• Determinator: A major factor of Dragunov's character, encapsulated by his catchphrase, is that he will not stop and he cannot be broken. Dijak in particular tried to test that theory and found the result to be true.
• Meaningful Name: Named for the well-known Dragunov sniper rifle.
• Mother Russia Makes You Strong
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Hits way harder than his 187-pound billed weight would indicate.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: He likes to set up for the Torpedo Moscow by declaring that he is UN! BE! SIEG! BAR!
• Red Baron: "The Czar" and "The Mad Dragon".
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: His irises are outlined in bright red, presumably through the use of contact lenses. For some reason, as of early 2021, he no longer wears them in the ring, but he brought them back for his feud with Baron Corbin.
• The Rival: GUNTHER. They met numerous times on indy scenes across two continents - but their 2020 meeting in NXT UK for the WWE/NXT United Kingdom Championship was one of the single most brutal matches seen in North America in recent memory, and almost unheard of for modern WWE. Ilja won the belt in an equally vicious rematch almost a year later in America, and many expect the rivalry to continue anew if and when Ilja is promoted to join Gunther on the main roster.
• The Un-Smile: He...smiles? an awful lot, but it doesn't exactly look like a smile.
• Use Your Head: His finisher, Torpedo Moscow, is essentially a falling elbow strike/headbutt to turn a downed opponent into an unconscious opponent.
• Working-Class Hero: His (Real Life) working-class childhood as a Russian immigrant in Germany is sometimes brought up by the commentators.

Oba Femi

Oba Femi (Isaac Odugbesan)

• The Brute: Oba Femi establishing himself as a heel.
• Put on the Bus: Oba Femi on hiatus after defeated Oro Mensah at NXT Spring Breakin'.
  • The Bus Came Back: After a hiatus on television, on December 2023, Femi entered the 2023 Men's NXT Breakout Tournament. He defeated Myles Borne in the first round and Tavion Heights in the semifinals. On January 2, 2024, at NXT: New Year's Evil, Femi defeated Riley Osborne in the finals to become the winner of the tournament. The following week, Femi cashed in his Breakout Tournament contract and defeated Dragon Lee to win the NXT North American Championship, the first title of his career, while also becoming the youngest and first Next In Line program graduate to win a WWE title.

Nathan Frazer

Nathan Frazer (Benjamin Timms)

• Cool Teacher: Trained by Seth Rollins, which is touched on briefly in his introductory vignette.
• Meaningful Rename: He changed his name from Ben Carter to Nathan Frazer, apparently his real name, to signify becoming a new man; he told Noam Dar that 'Ben Carter' was the name he used when he started out because he was worried about his parents finding out he was wrestling.

Joe Gacy

Joe Gacy (Joseph Ruby)

• Ax-Crazy: As his time in NXT wore on, it started to become more and more obvious that Gacy wasn't completely right in the head.
• Politically Correct Villain: His current gimmick in NXT 2.0 incorporates progressive elements such as inclusion and acceptance, despite him being a nasty Heel.
• Political Correctness Is Evil: His gimmick is the negative stereotypes of a Social Justice Warrior (e.g preachy, argumentative, hypocritically intolerant of other views, and in extreme cases, secretly mentally disturbed).
• Stalker with a Crush: After the dismantling of Schism, he's recently seen infatuated by Ariana Grace, but she sees his obsession as creepy.

Carmelo Hayes

Carmelo Hayes (Christian Brigham)

• Face/Heel Double-Turn: He and Trick Williams were showing signs of a Heel–Face Turn during his rivalry with Bron Breakker, showing respect to the second-generation Steiner and then-face of the current NXT era. After winning the NXT Championship in Stand and Deliver 2023, Hayes called out Breakker to once again show him respect. After Bron came out and returned this respect, however, he turned and attacked Carmelo and Trick unprovoked, adding his own Face–Heel Turn to complete the double turn.
• Face–Heel Turn: At NXT Vengeance Day on February 4, Hayes and Williams failed to win the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, which was won by Baron Corbin and Bron Breakker. Later that night, after Williams failed to win the NXT Championship from Ilja Dragunov, Hayes attacked Williams with a steel chair, ending their partnership and turning heel in the process.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: After winning the NXT Breakout Tournament, he brought in Trick Williams to watch his back, and Trick promptly convinced him to get a lot more egotistical. He also captured the North American Championship from Isaiah "Swerve" Scott by taking his guaranteed championship opportunity just moments after Swerve had gone through a grueling defense, in a direct mirror to the main roster's Money in the Bank concept.
• Tournament Arc: Winner of the 2021 NXT Breakout Tournament.

Ridge Holland

Ridge Holland (Luke Menzies)

• Badass Longcoat: Wears one as part of his entrance.
• Carry a Big Stick: He often brings a truncheon to the ring, and occasionally uses it during matches.
• Finishing Move: Northern Grit, a version of Emerald Flowsion.
• Game-Breaking Injury: Suffered one in 2020 when Oney Lorcan dove on him, causing Holland's ankle to snap while he was doing the catching. Thankfully, he managed to bounce back from that in a year.
• I Know Madden Kombat: He's a former pro rugby player who was deemed too reckless and aggressive for the sport.
• Oop North: Billed from Yorkshire, England.
• Use Your Head: Holland can bust out a hard-hitting headbutt once in a while.

Brooks Jensen

Brooks Jensen (Benjamin Buchanan)

• Bar Brawl: Apparently met his partner Josh Briggs after a misunderstanding between the two led to one of these. The two respected each other's toughness and decided to team up.
• Wrestling Family: The son of Bull Buchanan.

Lexis King

Lexis King (Brian Zachary Pillman)

• Disappeared Dad: Invoked in the video that announced his arrival in NXT, noting that he was 4 years old when his father, the great Brian Pillman, died.
• Generation Xerox: Ironically, while his NXT character despises his father, the famed Brian Pillman (and people's expectations of carrying his legacy), even changing his name to avoid his association with him, somewhere in between the jump from AEW to NXT he started styling himself more deliberately on the Loose Cannon character his father played for the last 2 years of his career.
• Meaningful Name: His NXT name. "Lexis" pays tribute to his late stepsister Alexis "Lexi" Reed, and "King" was the last name of his late mother's second husband, who was his main father figure after his biological father's passing.
• Opportunistic Bastard: He fakes being Trick Williams's attacker just so that he'd get a match against Carmelo Hayes at the Deadline PLE, to bask in the spotlight.
• Take That!: Out of character, Brian Jr. has accused his stepfather (from which he took the "King" part of his name) of being abusive to him through his whole childhood, and said he only took the name King because he deserved it more than that man ever did. Not to mention Lexis King the character being an utter bastard.
• Wrestling Family: As noted above, the son of Brian Pillman. Before joining NXT, he wrestled as Brian Pillman Jr. despite not actually being a "Jr." (his father's middle name is William).

Tank Ledger

Tank Ledger (Joe Spivak)

Guru Raaj

Guru Raaj (Laxmi Rajpoot)

• Jobber: His role in NXT has been as a jobber since his introduction.

Eddy Thorpe

Eddy Thorpe (Karl Fredericks)

• Badass Native: Is one, but like The Brisco Brothers, Jack and Gerald, it is not reflected in his gimmick.
• Bald Head of Toughness: Not completely, but he keeps his hair in a buzzcut in contrast to him keeping his hair a little longer before he signed to WWE.
• Shout-Out: His ring name is a reference to Native American Olympic and football legend Jim Thorpe.

Hank Walker

Hank Walker (Joseph Sculthorpe)

• Celebrity Resemblance: Commentators and fans have noted his resemblance to Seth Rogen.
• Development(al) Gag: His gimmick as a security guard-turned-wrestler is a direct reference to WWE's long-running history of using pre-debut developmental trainees as extras, usually security, when they need extra bodies to fill out a segment.
• Wrestling Doesn't Pay: He's working as a security guard in addition to his wrestling career.

Trick Williams

Trick Williams (Matrick Belton)

• Big Guy, Little Guy: Trick and Carmelo Hayes together have this dynamic, with Trick standing at 6'4" and towering over the 5'10" (if that) Hayes.
• Crowd Song: The fans chant "Whoop that Trick" on Williams' theme song "Locked In" followed by Booker T's chant "What?, Yeah, Uh Huh, I Like It, Aw Yeah Man!"
• Early-Bird Cameo: Williams played one of Apollo Crews's guards during his "African chieftain" gimmick. He was also one of the security guards present during the segments between Adam Cole and Kyle O'Reilly during their feud.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: At NXT Spring Breakin', Williams defeated Ilja Dragunov to capture the NXT Championship for the first time in his career.
• Hammy Herald: For Carmelo Hayes, whom he typically announces to the ring at premium live events with long, over-the-top introductions.
• I Know Madden Kombat: Averted. Trick was a former football player but doesn't really use any recognizable football techniques in his offense.
• Remember the New Guy?: Introduced at the time of Carmelo Hayes's heel turn as a friend of his despite not being seen or referenced at any point before that.

Women's Division

Ava

Ava (Simone Johnson)

• Brainwashed and Crazy: According to Cameron Grimes, who claims that Schism brainwashed her into joining their ranks. Ava vehemently denies this, and maintains that she joined them of her own free will.
• Game-Breaking Injury: Had an injury while training at the WWE Performance Center, which got so bad that she had to have surgery. Unfortunately, this allowed Joe Gacy to get closer to her and influenced Ava to join the Schism.
• Only One Name: Went briefly by Ava Raine before dropping the "Raine" less than a year into her run.
• Statuesque Stunner: Stands 5'10".
• Wrestling Family: She's the daughter of Dwayne Johnson and, by extension, a member of Samoan Dynasty.

Wendy Choo

Mey Ying/Wendy Choo (Karen Q)

• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: An eccentric, offbeat Womanchild that likes playing pranks (when she's not napping) and comes to the ring dressed in colorful romper pajamas - but underestimate her at your own peril as she's way tougher than she looks.
• Finishing Move: As Mei Ying she used the Tongan Death Grip with ruthless efficiency.
• Orcus on His Throne: She mostly sat on her throne while as Mei Ying while her subordinates did all the fighting for her.
• Sleepyhead: Napping is Wendy's favorite hobby.
• Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl: Her character as Mei Ying was a variation of one, although obviously Chinese.

Blair Davenport

Blair Davenport (Bea Priestly)

• Combat Pragmatist: She's been taking out any potential opponents by attacking them outside of the ring, in parking lots and locker rooms.
• Evil Brit: She's playing up the "British villain" stereotype by being classist and nasty to everyone outside of her country.
• The Reveal: On the May 30, 2023 episode of NXT, she was revealed as a masked attacker who's been attacking the women's division and sidelined Nikkita Lyons and Sol Ruca.
• Shout-Out: One of her infrequently used catchphrases at one point was "Enemies of the heir, beware!"

Gigi Dolin

Gigi Dolin (Priscilla Kelly)

• Fiery Redhead: Has bright orange hair and is the more pronounced Beta Bitch.
• Hard Head: After tanking several blows to the head from Roxanne Perez at The Great American Bash, she responds by leveling Roxanne with a headbutt.
• Heel–Face Turn: On the NXT after Vengeance Day 2023, Jacy attacked Gigi and berated her while laughing maniacally at the sight of her former fallen friend, turning Gigi face in the process.
• Ms. Fanservice: One of the most conventionally beautiful women in the roster and her sex appeal is often highlighted.
• Use Your Head: Her arsenal contains headbutts, including a falling variation.

Arianna Grace

Arianna Grace (Bianca Carelli)

• Snobs Vs Slobs: The crux of her feud with Gigi Dolin, with Arianna being a snobby fashion model and Gigi a working-class wrestler.
• Wrestling Family: She's the daughter of Santino Marella.

Valentina Feroz

Valentina Feroz (Rita Reis)

Fallon Henley

Fallon Henley (Theresa Schuessler)

• Battle Couple: With Brooks Jensen, which seems to be a detriment to his and Josh Briggs's partnership.
• Fire-Forged Friends: With Kiana James, having fought each other several times before realizing they work better as a team.

Cora Jade

Cora Jade (Brianna Coda)

• The Baby of the Bunch: For her first year or so. Her young age (20-21 at time of debut) compared to the rest of NXT's competitors is brought up regularly. Was supplanted in this after being on the roster for a year or two and WWE subsequently hiring a couple of even younger ladies like Roxanne Perez and Thea Hail.
• Battle Couple: Was briefly repackaged for NXT 2.0 as part of an act with Trey Baxter, her then-real life partner.
• Cool Board: Rides a skateboard down to the ring as part of her entrance as a Face.
• Face–Heel Turn: Betrayed Roxanne Perez in her title match against NXT Women's Champion Mandy Rose, revealing that she had attacked her backstage to try to replace her in the match.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Towards Roxanne Perez, due to "replacing" her as the hot new prospect everyone was talking about despite the fact that Cora was the one that brought her in.
• Innocently Insensitive: Has jokingly commented on Trey Baxter's losses in NXT a couple of times and seemed to be oblivious to how this is hurting Trey's feelings. He was out of the company not too long after.
• Paint It Black: She went from wearing bright fucsia colors as a face to mainly black as a heel. In a turnaround way, as first she wore it when teaming with Gigi Dolin before Toxic Attraction, then again after turning on Roxanne.
• Tomboyish Baseball Cap: Wears one most of the time.
• We Used to Be Friends: With Roxanne Perez.

Kiana James

Kiana James (Kayla Inlay)

• Meganekko: In her first NXT appearances, she wore glasses fitting for her secretary gimmick.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: With Fallon Henley during their pursuit to become the NXT Women's Tag Team champions.

Jacy Jayne

Jacy Jayne (Taylor Grado)

• Alliterative Name: Jacy Jayne.
• Eviler than Thou: On the NXT after Vengeance Day 2023, Jacy attacked Gigi and berated her while laughing maniacally at the sight of her former fallen friend, making her this to Gigi, much to the crowd's displeasure.
• Face–Heel Turn: Twice. To Gigi Dolin to break up Toxic Attraction in February 2023 after Vengeance Day, and in March of 2024 slipped back into her old ways and betrayed Thea Hail and Chase U. It makes one wonder why people associate with Jacy at this point.
• Heel–Face Turn: Since starting to associate with Chase U, she's slowly become a more reliable and decent person, even becoming a big sister figure to Thea Hail..
• It's All About Me: Her reason for Toxic Attraction's tensions and eventual breakup.
  "It's never been about us! It was always about me!"

Kelani Jordan

Kelani Jordan (Lea Mitchell)

Nikkita Lyons

Nikkita Lyons (Faith Jefferies)

• Animal Motifs: Lions. She's named Nikkita Lyons and lots of lion-themed words are used regarding her, such as a a hype video for her being titled "Nikkita Lyons is ready to roar on NXT 2.0".
• Ass Kicks You: Her split-leg pin, which tends to make her look like she's pinning her opponent to the mat with her butt.
• Do It Your Self Theme Tune: Her current theme song "The Lyoness" is sung by herself.
• I Know Kung Fu: Lyons is trained in the martial art of Tae Kwon Do.
• Ms. Fanservice: Possibly the single biggest example employed by WWE at the moment. She's known for wearing skintight wrestling gear that heavily accentuates her butt, often with a Cleavage Window and strategically placed splits in the thighs. It doesn't hurt that one of her signature moves is a split-leg pin, which tends to make her look like she's pinning her opponent under her backside.
• Mythology Gag: Her whole lion-themed persona seems to be a reference to her wrestling on the independent scene as "Faith the Lioness".

Jazmyn Nyx

Jazmyn Nyx (Jade Gentile)

• I Know Madden Kombat: She used to be a college soccer player, and one of her signature maneuvers is the Pelé kick.

Dani Palmer

Dani Palmer (Alexis Amrhein)

Tatum Paxley

Tatum Paxley (Natalie Holland)

• Face–Heel Turn: Betrayed her former Diamond Mine teammate Ivy Nile during a tag team match.
• Heel–Face Turn: Her romance angle with Lyra Valkyria beginning in late 2023 was so well-received by the fans that Tatum turned face, despite Tatum playing the sort of creeper that in real life would be a borderline stalker.
• Loony Fan: She became one to Lyra Valkyria, trying to "help" her by beating up her opponent unprompted, as well as dressing up as Lyra.
• Red Baron: "The Reaper".
• She Really Can Act: Tatum has received massive praise for how well she plays her slightly psychotic but oh so adorable Loony Fan character, so much so that fans wanted the story's endgame to be her marrying Lyra in kayfabe but it sadly didn't play out that way.
• Stalker with a Crush: Spent a lot of time stalking Lyra, and made it clear that her feelings were romantic in nature, though it didn't wind up going anywhere.
• Yandere: Got very psychotic over Lyra, both to Lyra and to Lyra's opponents. After she turned on Lyra, the resulting vignette made it clear that she's been batshit crazy the whole time.

Roxanne Perez

Roxanne Perez (Carla Gonzalez)

• The Baby of the Bunch: Debuted at age 20, around the same age as Cora Jade.
• Homage: Her whole WWE character seems to be basically one to A.J. Lee, which is cited by Roxanne herself as one of her inspirations, especially her early WWE Chickbusters persona, as Roxanne even wrestles in near-identical checkered gear to the one AJ wore during that era. Ironically, her arch-nemesis Cora Jade's main inspiration to start wrestling is none other than AJ's husband, CM Punk.
• Finishing Move: Pop Rox, a Sunset Flip powerbomb. She added a Crossface to her finisher list upon her Face–Heel Turn.
• Mythology Gag: Her WWE name being Roxanne Perez seems to be a reference to how in the independent scene she was known as Rok-C (itself a Shout-Out to The Rock combined with her initial "C" of "Carla").
• Purple Is Powerful: Wears purple in her wrestling gears and is very competent.
• Red Baron: Started to be called "The Prodigy" around the time of her NXT Women's Championship win.
• Teen Genius: Started her wrestling training at 13 years old and completed it at 16 by Booker T himself, before joining WWE.
• We Used to Be Friends: With Cora Jade after the latter turned Heel.

Karmen Petrovic

Karmen Petrovic (Monika Klisara)

Sol Ruca

Sol Ruca (Calyx Hampton)

Meiko Satomura

Meiko Satomura

• The Dreaded: Satomura is the only wrestler Kay Lee Ray is afraid of, and that's not unwarranted, given she's occasionally wrestled men before, including Pete Dunne.
• Kick Chick: Her arsenal is full of deadly and creative kicks.
• Red Baron: "The Final Boss"

Wren Sinclair

Wren Sinclair (Madison Dombkowski)

Stevie Turner

Stevie Turner (Lucy Bridge)

Lyra Valkyria

Aoife Valkyrie/Lyra Valkyria (Aoife Cusack)

• Creepy Crows: She wears a collar fitted with crow feathers for each opponent she defeats.
• Fighting Irish

Lola Vice

Lola Vice (Valerie Loureda)

Tag Teams and Stables

Chase University

Andre Chase (Chance Barrow)

• Heel–Face Turn: Ever since Grayson Waller rubbed him the wrong way, and as a result, he now defends Chase University's honor.
• Running Gag: Somebody saying the word "chase", which leads to him yelling out if somebody said Andre Chase.
• Sadist Teacher: Downplayed, but his gimmick is a pastiche of Jerkass University profs. No longer the case since he turned Face, unless a student in one of his classes really pisses him off.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: If somebody drops a Precision F-Strike in NXT, odds are it was Chase.
• Wrestling Family: He's a younger brother of Lance Bravado.

Thea Hail (Maddie Knisley)

• The Baby of the Bunch: She's the youngest WWE Superstar at just 18 years old at the time of her debut, joining after graduating from high school!
  • Reality Subtext: Her entry into Chase U onscreen was shot not long after she graduated, and was portrayed much like a high school athlete committing to play for a college.
• Fanservice Pack: After Jacy joined Chase U and took Thea under her wing, she took the younger superstar shopping and for a makeover, resulting in Thea's ring gear becoming a sleek black that emphasized her looks more alongside more makeup.
• Genki Girl: Has a lot of energy and is excited about everything Chase U does. She gets very worked up before a match and especially when she's ringside for someone else's match.

Duke Hudson (Brendan Vink)

• Battle Couple: With Persia Pirotta until her release from the company.
• Dodgy Toupee: After losing a Hair vs. Hair match and being shaved bald by Cameron Grimes, he attempted to cover his bald head with an extremely conspicuous blonde wig that had to be held on by wrestling headgear.
• The Gambler: He's often seen at a poker table when not wrestling.
• Heel–Face Turn: He was a was a heel when initially joining with Chase U and seemed set up to take it over, but was slowly won over by the teachings of the University and become a loyal student.
• You Look Familiar: Was actually very briefly on the main roster under his real name in a tag team with Shane Thorne (his former The Mighty Don't Kneel stablemate), managed by MVP, before reverting to NXT and changing names and gimmicks.

Riley Osborne (Joshua Terry)

The D'Angelo Family

Tony D'Angelo (Joseph Ariola)

• Crowbar Combatant: A crowbar is the perfect weapon for a mobster.
• Deadly Euphemism: He says that his family has been in the waste management business for a while. Anyone familiar with anything mafia-related would instantly understand what that means.
• Finishing Move: "Fuggetaboutit", a fisherman suplex (fitting as his family has a stake in the fish market).
• Heel–Face Turn: As a result of his surprisingly good reception with the crowd.
• The Mafia: A thinly veiled pastiche of a wiseguy.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: He often attempts to slip some money into the referee's pockets, but the way he does it in open view doesn't exactly do him any good.
• Shout-Out: A walking one to The Sopranos. He also did the "sleep with the fishes" analogy from The Godfather by sending a package containing a fish to Indi Hartwell, as an implied threat to Indi's in-storyline husband Dexter Lumis.

Channing "Stacks" Lorenzo (Mitchell Lavalley)

• The Dragon: To Tony D'Angelo and is now the Underboss of his "family". Switched to The Lancer after his Heel–Face Turn.

Luca Crusifino (Roman Macek)

• Amoral Attorney: He's a wrestling attorney who's willing to bend rules in representing his clients.
• The Consigliere: Tony called him as such upon Crusifino joining the Family.

Adriana Rizzo (Anna Keefer)

• Shout-Out: Given how D'Angelo's entire wiseguy gimmick seems to take The Sopranos as its main source of inspiration, perhaps it's not coicidental that Adriana shares her name with Adriana La Cerva from that show.

Edris & Malik

Edris Enofe (Inyene Umoh)

Malik Blade (Joshua Dawkins)

Gallus

As a stable

• Arch-Enemy: They've been picking fights with everyone, but their most natural rival out of the gate seems to be British Strong Style.
• Badass Arm-Fold: Their signature pose.
• Beard of Evil: Wolfgang and Joe in particular have impressive ones.
• Freudian Trio: Mark is the tactical technician that reins in Wolfgang and occasionally Joe when necessary (Superego). Wolfgang is the biggest and most powerful, and also most prone to be easily set off and hit anything that moves (Id). Joe is the chief decision-maker, mouthpiece, and in terms of personality strikes a balance between the two (Ego).
• Meaningful Name: "Gallus" is a Scottish slang word for "daring"/"confident".
• Violent Glaswegian: A trio of brutal Scots all born in Glasgow.

Joe Coffey

• Bash Brothers: With Real Life brother Mark.
• Red Baron: "The Iron King"

Mark Coffey

• Bash Brothers: With Real Life brother Joe.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The measured, calm blue to Wolfgang's passionate, fiery red.

Wolfgang (Barry Young)

• Acrofatic: He's firmly a heavyweight (billed at 255) and has a bit of a gut under that singlet. Doesn't stop him from busting out the occasional moonsault - even off the second turnbuckle or barricade (less height than the traditional top-rope variant.)
• Hair-Trigger Temper: More prone than the others to Unstoppable Rage and bloodlust; Mark often takes it upon himself to keep "Wolfie" on task when the two work together.
• Power Stable: Gallus, in NXT UK.
• Red Baron: "The Last King of Scotland"
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The fiery red to Mark Coffey's calmer blue.
• Violent Glaswegian: He was born in Glasgow, and he is quite a violent competitor.

The Meta-Four

As a stable

• Gender-Equal Ensemble: Two guys, two girls.

Noam Dar

• A Hero to His Hometown: Unlike several of the other cruiserweights on RAW, Dar's main roster debut was held back several weeks for the 11/7/2016 Glasgow show. Predictably, the pop Dar got was massive.
• Badass Israeli/Brave Scot: Born in Israel, raised in Scotland.
• Casanova Wannabe: To skeevy, skin-crawl-inducing levels. Sometimes it works, for some reason...
• Face–Heel Turn: Not long after debuting - beats Cedric Alexander in a match and then taunts him and his girlfriend.
• Henpecked Boyfriend: It's become increasingly obvious that Dar is absolutely whipped by Fox - who, to be fair, is a couple of cards short of a full deck. Until he dumped her, saying he just used her long enough to make a name for himself.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Throughout his reign as the Heritage Cup champion with Meta-Four by his side, Noam largely retained the Cup through the numbers game and having his stablemates back him up and interfere in his matches. By the time he faces Charlie Dempsey on the February 27, 2024 airing of NXT, he got a taste of his own medicine because Noam only had Oro by his side and Charlie was backed up by an even larger stable in the No Quarter Catch Crew who proceed to interfere in the match, distract Dar, and cause Dar to get de-throned by Charlie.
• Red Baron: "Supernova 11"
• Shout-Out: His Finishing Move is called the Champagne Superkneebar. In his British Isles career, he was billed as being from "A Champagne Supernova in a galaxy, far, far away..."
• Smug Snake: His gimmick is basically as the Young Gun of the Cruiserweight division who, unlike many of the more veteran field, has gotten his taste of WWE at an extremely early age (was only 22 when the WWE Cruiserweight Classic was held). As such, he's gotten progressively cockier with every successive appearance on TV.
• Stalker with a Crush: To Alicia Fox.
  • Relationship Upgrade: They eventually get together after Cedric dumps her.
• Violent Glaswegian: Mildly subverted since he was born in Tel Aviv, and grew up in Ayr, Scotland.

Oro Mensah (Oliver Sauter)

Lash Legend (Anriel Howard)

• Alliterative Name: Lash Legend.
• Amazonian Beauty: A tall, well-built former collegiate athlete that even briefly played in the WNBA, Lash is strong enough to powerslam WWE's Otis, who is well north of 300 lbs.
• Shout-Out: Her Talk Show with Fists Lashing Out with Lash Legend is very reminiscent of The Wendy Williams Show, right down to the scenery.
• Statuesque Stunner: One of the tallest women on the entire WWE roster, billed at 6'.
• Talk Show with Fists: Lashing Out with Lash Legend.
• Villainous Crush: Appeared to have one on Trick Williams.

Jakara Jackson (Jamara Garrett)

• Alliterative Name

No Quarter Catch Crew

Drew Gulak

• Adrenaline Makeover: After Drake Maverick called him out on going from being one of the most rugged men in the ring to his more clean-cut image (See You Don't Look Like You) and challenged him to push himself. Throughout the Cruiserweight Championship tournament, he has grown a beard and developed a more ruthless submission style.
• Archenemy: Mustafa Ali, who annoys Gulak by using high-flying moves in the ring. After the Cruiserweight Championship tournament, Tony Nese (see We Used to Be Friends).
• Awesomeness by Analysis: His early 2020 push and Heel–Face Turn. Claimed to have spotted several weaknesses from watching Daniel Bryan, and while it echoed his old Powerpoint gimmick, those who listened to him actually did give Bryan some more trouble. Culminated in Bryan challenging Gulak to face him personally at Elimination Chamber, where Gulak countered everything for most of the match. Bryan had to push himself to another level to pull off the win, and asked to continue working with Gulak afterward, acknowledging that even he had more to learn— which in turn drew them into a feud with Sami Zayn and company, whose recruiting offer Bryan had turned down a while back.
• Berserk Button: Seeing someone come off the top rope is enough to send Gulak into a rage. With 205 Live basically being the high-flying cruiserweight show, this means he spends most of his screen time pissed off.
• Boring, but Practical: His intentionally dull wrestling style infuriates fans, and he wants the entire roster to follow suit.
• Character Catchphrase: If you step to him, whether it would be by his Gulock or another way, You. Will. Tap. Out!
• The Comically Serious: Whenever he says Enzo's catchphrase, he specifically says "S-O-F-T" and "How are you doing?", making Enzo a Straight Man in that situation.
• The Dragon: To Enzo Amore.
• Easily Forgiven: Averted. After participating in Enzo's beatdown of Tony Nese, he tried to bury the hatchet, only to be rebuked.
• Finishing Move: A scissored Dragon Sleeper hold he calls the Gulock.
• Hypocrite: He dislikes cruiserweights who do high-flying moves, but when his buddy Tony Nese does the same, Gulak makes up excuses for him.
• Justified Tutorial: Appears very prominently in the basic control tutorial section for WWE 2K22 the first time you boot up the game. (This followed a two-year gap between titles where the combat system was rebuilt from the ground up.) Hilariously, true to character, he will get annoyed and snark at you if you attempt any springboard or top rope maneuvers.
• The Long List: Many of his Powerpoint presentations ("Slide 9 of 277"), though of course he never gets past the first few of those.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Occasionally goes so far as to use a high-flying move himself. On one occasion, it came up during a "I can do that style just as good as you" type storyline, only to be played for comedy as his legs wobbled and he failed to accomplish anything useful. Later played serious as he pulled off a superplex during the lead-up to his first championship run in 2019.
• Red Baron: The Philadelphia Stretcher.
• Running Gag: Whenever he tries to show his PowerPoint presentation, he gets interrupted by something.
• Stay in the Kitchen: After losing a match to Cedric Alexander in which he happened to knock down Cedric's onscreen girlfriend, Alicia Fox (despite the fact that it was Cedric who got distracted, which theoretically should have made it easier for Gulak to pick up the win), he went on a rather misogynistic rant that was basically a drawn-out discussion of this trope.
• Straw Character: His "No-Fly Zone" campaign is aimed against all high-flyers, which includes most of the face cruiserweights.
• "Stop Having Fun" Guys: invoked His gimmick has expanded to a variation of this.
• We Used to Be Friends: Became this with Tony Nese after deliberately trying to injure him in the first round of the Cruiserweight Championship tournament and showed no remorse.
• You Don't Look Like You: His look changed drastically from his original appearance in the Cruiserweight Classic to his PowerPoint gimmick, to the point that he barely even looks like the same person - then again during his mid-2019 push to the title. Compare phase 1◊, phase 2◊, phase 3.◊
• You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry!: He has developed some sort of sadistic side that "activates" whenever he starts to lose.

Charlie Dempsey (Bailey Matthews)

• Accents Aren't Hereditary: Ironically, the son of the very British William Regal on the NXT UK program speaks with a very American accent. (This is due to being born and raised in America while Regal was wrestling here. In fact, native Brits have pointed out that Regal's own accent, while sounding very British to Americans, sounds slightly Americanized to them.)
• Strong Family Resemblance: It's like Regal cloned himself.
• Wrestling Family: He's the son of William Regal.

Damon Kemp (Bobby Steveson)

• Face–Heel Turn: At Worlds Collide Kemp betrayed The Creed Brothers by costing the NXT Tag Team Championship to Pretty Deadly after hitting Julius Creed with a steel chair.
• Token Minority: Is the only black man in Diamond Mine and No Quarter Catch Crew.
• Wrestling Family: Is the older brother of Olympic Freestyle gold medalist Gable Steveson.

Myles Borne (David Bostian)

• Handicapped Badass: He's deaf as a result of a medical condition, but the lack of hearing doesn't affect his wrestling skill.

OTM

As a Team

• Rags to Riches: Implied to be their goal from their name, "Out The Mud".

Reginald/Reggie/Scrypts (Sidney Bateman)

• Arch-Enemy: Antagonized Axiom at one point, to the point of revealing the secret identity of the wrestling superhero.
• Butt-Monkey: As Reggie.
• Casanova Wannabe: Was almost always attached to one woman or another onscreen as Reggie. He managed three or four different ladies in his short time in the company and made romantic overtures toward all of them at one point or another, with varying degrees of subtlety and success.
• Dance Battler: Before he joined WWE, Reginald used to perform in the circus, notably for Cirque du Soleil.
• Dark Horse Victory: He defeated Akira Tozawa and won the 24/7 Champion.
• Expy: to James Ellsworth, their both managed Carmella.
• Masked Luchador: Not necessarily a Luchador during his time with the mask on for Scrypts, but you get the idea.
• Le Parkour: His dodging, as Reggie, and what little in-ring offense he does have make extensive use of this.
• Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: After he and Carmella split, Nia Jax became fascinated with him - much to tag team partner Shayna Baszler's displeasure.
• Villainous Crush: As a heel, appeared to have one on Sasha Banks to the point that he tried to leave his original management charges for her. Given his tendency to screw things up, though, he was quickly rebuffed.

Lucien Price (Nnamdi Oguayo)

Bronco Nima (Edwin Grande)

Jaida Parker (Tiana Caffey)

Robert Stone Brand

As a Team

• Beauty Is Bad: Essentially the group's main shtick. They're a Heel Power Stable who, up until Stone picked up Von Wagner as a managee, consisted exclusive of good-looking women. (One notable exception was the tough Mercedes Martinez, who didn't care about looking pretty, and even then she muscled her way into the Brand.)
• Equal-Opportunity Evil: The post-Chelsea Green incarnation had the trio of Stone (Jewish American), Aliyah (Canadian of West Asian origins), and Mercedes Martinez (Latin-American).
• In Name Only: Franky Monet essentially usurped control from Stone after Aliyah moved to the main roster, relegating him to a Beleaguered Assistant, meaning that it was hardly Robert Stone's Brand anymore. Stone would eventually regain control after Monet was legitimately released.

Robert Stone (Robert Strauss)

• Butt-Monkey: Nothing ever goes his way. At best, he manages an occasional Pyrrhic Victory. This even extends to how even outside of Kayfabe, three of his clients (Chelsea Green, Mercedes Martinez and Franky Monet) got released (although Green explicitly broke with him months beforehand) while Aliyah and Sofia Cromwell got moved to the main roster (the latter getting renamed Maxxine Dupri), forcing him to rebuild his brand more than once. He took up with Von Wagner most recently, but Wagner was also drafted to the main roster in 2023. It's a Running Gag at this point.
• The Chew Toy: His misfortunes are always Played for Laughs.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Despite being The Chew Toy, Stone was a noted midcard and Tag Team wrestler in TNA during the first half of the 2010s as Robbie E.^note In fact, he's only one TNA World Championship win short of becoming a Triple Crown and Grand Slam Champion simultaneously, having won all the other titles required.
• Captain Ersatz: His current look serves as a pastiche to Tony Khan, owner of the distinguished competition known as All Elite Wrestling.
• The Dandy: He's always dressed to the nines.
• I Was Beaten by a Girl: Shotzi Blackheart, Rhea Ripley and Thea Hail have both attacked him at different points.
• The One Guy: He only recruited female wrestlers in his eponymous stable, until he recruited Von Wagner.
• The Pawn: Chelsea Green, Mercedes Martinez and Franky Monet just used him as a stepping stone. Green ditched him the moment she was called to the main roster, Martinez joined the stable by basically just coming to Stone one night and strong-arming him (literally) into adding her to it, and Monet actually usurped control of the Brand from Stone after Aliyah moved to the main roster and relegated him to a Beleaguered Assistant, before that storyline was aborted by Monet's legitimate release and Stone eventually regained control.
• Running Gag: During the Brand's feud with Shotzi Blackheart, Stone got his legs run over by Shotzi's mini-tank once every couple of weeks.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: As mentioned above under The Dandy, he's always wearing suits.
• Shout-Out: When Rhea Ripley told him that she would join his stable in a million years, Stone retorted "So... you're saying there's a chance?" in a similar manner to how Lloyd Christmas said the same phrase in a famous scene of Dumb and Dumber.
• Stalker with a Crush: His storyline of attempting to recruit Rhea Ripley into his stable had shades of this. It wasn't made exactly clear if he was in awe of the Amazonian Beauty because of her sheer strength or because of something else.

NXT House Show talent

Contains Superstars who have yet to become full-time members of either NXT television roster and primarily work house shows. If they do show up on-screen it is mainly as a jobber or for short storylines.

Singles Wrestlers

Taishan Dong (Dong Jianjun)

• Boxing Battler: Dong used to be a professional boxer before taking up wrestling.
• The Giant: He's 7 feet tall, and it can't be taught.

Women's Division

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